GIGABYTE GV-N65TOC-2GI Pro Reviews

With every launch of a GeForce 600 series card NVIDIA has had a specific market target in mind. Typically those targets intersect or undercut an AMD market, and while AMD has not been caught off-guard with subsequent launches like they were the launch of the GTX 680, NVIDIA has so far managed to stay on equal or better footing as AMD. Or at least that was the case until today with the launch of the GeForce GTX 650 Ti. To be clear, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti as it’s configured does not have a direct competitor, and this is something NVIDIA specifically planned for. At $149 it’s squeezed in between the Radeon HD 7770 and the Radeon HD 7850, which happens to be a rather wide performance gap. Under normal circumstances this would be a very good plan, as it means NVIDIA can tap a market segment that AMD wasn’t adequately serving before, while at the same time direct avoiding competition with AMD. But such a plan relies on AMD not making an aggressive move in return.

Overall though, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is an interesting product. It may not be the highest performing solution throughout its entire price range, but the card’s small form factor, friendly power consumption characteristics, and cool and quiet operation are all pluses in our book.

Back in February, we were pretty disappointed with the Radeon HD 7770, as it was 18% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 while being only 15% cheaper at $159. Since then, AMD has made a various tweaks to the pricing of its Radeon HD 7000 series, including dropping the HD 7770's suggested retail rate to $139, which is where many of the cards currently sit, though it's possible to find certain models for as little as $120. Although it's a little pricier with an MSRP of $149 (depending on memory capacity), the GTX 650 Ti is in a decent position against AMD's budget offering. Nvidia's solution costs about 7% more while averaging 25% faster than the HD 7770 in the 18 games that we tested at 1680x1050. However, value-wise, the GTX 650 Ti doesn't really overcome the HD 6870, which is slightly faster in our tests and costs about the same.

Let’s first talk about the standard GeForce GTX 650 Ti with 1 GB memory. On the games we used in this review, this new video card was between 8% and 39% faster than its main competitor, the Radeon HD 7770, and between 12% and 50% faster than the video card it comes to replace, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti. For transcoding video using Media Espresso, however, the Radeon HD 7770 was 11% faster. Costing only USD 150, we believe the new GeForce GTX 650 Ti is an outstanding video card for the average user. The Gigabyte GV-N65TOC-2GI, with its overclocking and 2 GB of memory, was up to 12% faster than the standard GeForce GTX 650 Ti. It was between 14% and 52% faster than the Radeon HD 7770 and between 18% and 65% faster than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti on the games we ran.

The GIGABYTE GTX 650 Ti OC 2GB video card is the fastest, coolest, and quietest video card we have tested from the GTX 650 Ti lineup so far. It also comes with 4 display outputs, and 2GBs of VRAM, making it a great card for even games that use a lot of video memory. The card is not designed for enthusiasts, but will definitely make any budget gamer happy!

At fairly conservative settings, the GK106-equipped GTX 650 Ti nearly overtakes Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 and Radeon HD 6870. But when MSAA is applied at higher quality levels, the board takes a disproportionately large hit, ending up a few percentage points faster than the Radeon HD 6850, on average. As we saw in the benchmarks, that disparity can be mitigated somewhat through overclocking. In addition, most newer titles support alternative anti-aliasing modes, such as FXAA, that are easier on bandwidth-starved board designs. Assuming it surfaces at the $150 target Nvidia tells us to expect, the GeForce GTX 650 Ti offers the best performance at its price point, with average frame rates that outclass the Radeon HD 6850. The Radeon HD 7770 is beaten even more soundly. Conservative power, heat, and noise measurements make the card easy to live with and build an entry-level gaming system around, too